Space Colonization

[Neshiren]

I enjoy Civ4 alot, all the new features are great and the graphics are good.

But I still feel that something's lacking.
The only big new feature is, in my opinon, religion.

How about implementing a new way to expand your civilization - colonize space.
You complete your Colony Spaceship, which takes just about as long time as the AC spaceship, and off you go, to a planet of your choice.
You go to the new planet with a simple click on a button, and it changes the interface to what you can build and even research. You may find new minerals or material that you can research. I'm sure others can come up with endless ideas.
Terraforming sounds interesting but I think that would push it a bit too far.

I don't want it to become some kind of Star Wars, more like a very toned down version of AC.

So why would you want to colonize space?
These colonies would grow very slowly - and might not give more than some gold. You would however get many victory points. Perhaps some kind of new research or resources, I'm not sure what though.

I know, this is not a thing you throw in a patch, more like an expansion or even Civ5...

Any thoughts, suggestions or ideas?

[Dr,ape]

Suggestion - start playing AC on the side once you have the space ship.

[Grenouille]

I had the same idea!
But not for colonizing another solar system. I always found it silly to have an interstellar space craft in 2050 or 2100.. far too early!

Instead, there should be the colonization of OUR solar system. The civilizations of earth should be able to visit and colonize Luna, Mars, Venus, Europa, etc. and expand their empires to the Solar System.

[MortVader]

Originally posted by Grenouille
I had the same idea!
But not for colonizing another solar system. I always found it silly to have an interstellar space craft in 2050 or 2100.. far too early!

Instead, there should be the colonization of OUR solar system. The civilizations of earth should be able to visit and colonize Luna, Mars, Venus, Europa, etc. and expand their empires to the Solar System.

I totally agree on that one!

[Proteus_MST]

Great idea,
first colonies on the moon (which have the Apollo program as a prerequisite), which might have to be supplied by the civ on terra (by giving a certain percentage of food and production [or, of course, massive amounts of gold]) but are able to give access to certain resources and have buildings (and wonders) which could only be built there and unlock technologies which also could only be researched there (for example technologies towards establishing colonies on mars)
And then, as next step, colonies on mars...

(and of course, those colonies should have buildings and terrain improvements much different from those on terra [for example hydroponic agrodomes which produce oxygen and food])

[Grenouille]

Yeah! You could have Helium-4 as strategic resource for fusion power, and have it only available on the Moon (in larger quantities), so that you need to colonize the Moon to get this resource and be able to compete with 21st century nations.

You could also be able to obtain the lagrange points of the solar system and place space stations or solar energy plants there.

or mine the astroid belt for resources.

[Senethro]

The problem is that none of that is realistic and you would have trouble making it into a game.

At least the fictional Chiron/Planet made sense.

[Proteus_MST]

Hm, everything sopunds realistic to me, especially being able to only research certain technologies and build certain buildingsn on moon.
Moon has a much lower gravity than earth, so it is an ideal place to conduct experiments uinder low g (which might be crucial for astronauts travelling to mars).
And ATM China AFAIK plans to build a manned base on moon to harvest Helium 3 there and to build telescopes (which profit from moons thin atmosphere [and therefore could be also special terrrain improvents for a moon colony in Civ IV, bringing much science point for the tile where they´re placed ]).
So these things seem to be more realistic than the traditional spaceship to Alpha Centauri

[Backpack]

Hey -
We can already zoom OUT to see a planet view..... maybe one of the expansions will let us zoom WAY OUT to see the moon (Or perhaps with artistic License The Moon to the left of the Earth, and Mars to the right. Then once you have the enabling tech, and NW, you can center on the other planet and zoom in to that playing field.....

at least, That's one way of doing it, but it would take some SERIOUS work in the SDK, or a professional Expansion IMHO to pull off.

[duke o' york]

But that would be an entirely different game - SMAC!
The reason that we haven't even tried to colonise any of the planets in our SS yet is that none of them are habitable without horribly expensive breathing equipment, etc. So build a ship that goes to AC, and you may well find a habitable planet there.

[xpfusion]

Originally posted by Grenouille
I always found it silly to have an interstellar space craft in 2050 or 2100.. far too early!

Quite right. The same spaceship that takes 6 months to Mars would take about 120000 years to Proxima Centauri, our nearest star.

[Senethro]

I've got a scheme that involves the forging of documents indicating that Proxima Centauri has been trying to acquire WMD. I guarentee that if we pull it off, we'll be there next month.

Whos in?

[Electrius]

Originally posted by Senethro
At least the fictional Chiron/Planet made sense.

Uh huh, the whole psychic brain-burrowing creatures, intelligent planet, and life existing in the Alpha Centauri system (binary system with no large gas giants -- at least none observable from earth -- to clear out the comets that would destroy life) is perrrfectly plausable.

[Grenouille]

Let`s see.. perhabs it would be hard to make space colonization playable in Civ, but we can nevertheless brainstorm some ideas.

When you build the Apollo Program, you will be able to click to the Moon, and see it`s entire surface, including the dark side, and of course the Apollo Landing Site, but with fog of war.
If you discover advanced spaceflight, you can launch the first small explorer units to the moon and scan arround for a good place for your first base. If you have discovered fusion power, Helium4 will become visible.
You can then build a moon colony, starting off with building launch pads in your earth cities, which will enable the city to build moon-bound facilities and units. If one of those is built, you can choose to which place (for colonists) or base on the moon it will go. Moon bases can`t build stuff on their own in the beginning, as they`re very dependent on Earth supply.
A few of the earth cities need to build "lunar food supply", so that the colonies won`t starve, and other lunar facilities, like large telescopes and lo-grav labs for research, mining facilities to dig for resources, etc.
Lunar warfare would be possible but quite expensive, but perhabs pay off if you conquer some important resources.

[Senethro]

Originally posted by Electrius


Uh huh, the whole psychic brain-burrowing creatures, intelligent planet, and life existing in the Alpha Centauri system (binary system with no large gas giants -- at least none observable from earth -- to clear out the comets that would destroy life) is perrrfectly plausable.

By sense, I meant consistent by its own internal logic, not that it was probable.